Yesterday, I fainted in the local hospital. I had been stupid—donated blood on an empty stomach, ate breakfast, and then immediately went for a run in the thickly hot morning. I finished breathing harder than normal and utterly drenched in sweat. Right after showering, I drove to the hospital to pick up a family member from an endoscopic procedure. Standing by the bed, I started to feel lightheaded. I knew I was going to faint, but at the point of that realization, it’s impossible to stop.
So I passed out in a chair. Three nurses jumped to me, and within 45 seconds of coming to, I had an air pipe and smelling salts up my nostrils, a blood pressure cuff on my bicep, a pulse monitor clamped on my finger, and an IV needle jammed in my brachial vein. Within five minutes, I had been loaded into a bed and wheeled to the emergency room. Within 30 minutes, I had recovered from all lightheadness, yet I still waited through an EKG—just in case I had an arrhythmia. I didn’t, of course. I was simply dehydrated from being stupid enough to run immediately after removing a pint of blood.
Both the nurses in the endoscopy unit and the ER were amazingly kind and forgiving of my inconvenient noncompliance. And they followed our nation’s copious medical protocol for such situations. But I didn’t need that care or really deserve it. Dehydration from an unwise run wouldn’t kill me. And it was my fault.
At least 1.6 million children die each year from diarrhea complications. Unlike in my case, the dehydration is not their fault. They can’t choose to avoid the fetid water they drink. There is no other choice. These children deserve care.
I am grateful for the luxurious care that I enjoyed—and the insurance that paid for it, insurance unavailable to nearly one in six in our richest of countries. Reflecting on my healthcare experiences and thinking about the complete lack of healthcare for so many forgotten people makes this conviction difficult to believe: healthcare, just like food and clean water, are basic human rights. More important than any other right is the right to survive. But as Dr. Farmer writes (Pathologies of Power, I think) “If healthcare is a basic human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?”
So I am human. How many are with me? Surely fewer than those denied humanity. Haitians have such a hopeful proverb, “tout moun se moun” (every person is a person). Yet, only 54% of Haitians have access to safe water. They count themselves each as human. Why can’t we?
Friday, May 25, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Triple A: "AIDS and Accusation" and Abbott Laboratories
After finally reading "Deus Caritas Est" and former president Jean Bertrand Aristide's "In the Parish of the Poor: Writings From Haiti," I've begun the only book by Dr. Paul Farmer I haven't yet read, "AIDS and Accusation."
My blood still boiling over Abbott Laboratories continued callousness, extreme even with their deplorable track record, extreme even for a corporation, whose business needs admittedly do lend themselves to dispassion. This week, Abbott offered Thailand a "compromise": Aluvia (one of the drugs it was planning to pull) for $1000 per patient per year--fixed price, no lower, and Thailand couldn't continue its compulsory license. As an alternative to the deal, an Indian generic company, with the support of the Clinton Foundation, could make the drug for $695, with the near certainty of a price drop as more generic companies produce the ARV. Thai ministry of health looks like it won't take the deal...good decision, clearly.
In his 2005 preface to this book, originally published in 1992, Dr. Farmer addresses exactly this issue:
"Even if we agree that AIDS care is a right, there are significant challenges. We need to understand that as long as these medications remain commodities on the open market, they will be available only to those who can afford them. Regardless of how low costs go, there will always be those who cannot pay. For those interested in health as a human right, selling ARVS will always pose problems."
And a little later on...:
"...confused debates nonetheless continue to waste precious time. We should brace ourselves for the next great wave of debate, which will undoubtedly focus on what the modern world owes to the destitute sick. If AIDS care becomes a right rather than a commodity, some people believe we will open a Pandora's box. Others, including me, believe that we have no more excuses for ignoring the growing inequality that has left hundreds of millions of people without any hope of surviving preventable and treatable illnesses."
We need to put pressure on the Miles Whites [Abbott CEO] of the world. We need to put pressure on the world. We need to put pressure on ourselves in the world. To not continue to ignore inequality.
My blood still boiling over Abbott Laboratories continued callousness, extreme even with their deplorable track record, extreme even for a corporation, whose business needs admittedly do lend themselves to dispassion. This week, Abbott offered Thailand a "compromise": Aluvia (one of the drugs it was planning to pull) for $1000 per patient per year--fixed price, no lower, and Thailand couldn't continue its compulsory license. As an alternative to the deal, an Indian generic company, with the support of the Clinton Foundation, could make the drug for $695, with the near certainty of a price drop as more generic companies produce the ARV. Thai ministry of health looks like it won't take the deal...good decision, clearly.
In his 2005 preface to this book, originally published in 1992, Dr. Farmer addresses exactly this issue:
"Even if we agree that AIDS care is a right, there are significant challenges. We need to understand that as long as these medications remain commodities on the open market, they will be available only to those who can afford them. Regardless of how low costs go, there will always be those who cannot pay. For those interested in health as a human right, selling ARVS will always pose problems."
And a little later on...:
"...confused debates nonetheless continue to waste precious time. We should brace ourselves for the next great wave of debate, which will undoubtedly focus on what the modern world owes to the destitute sick. If AIDS care becomes a right rather than a commodity, some people believe we will open a Pandora's box. Others, including me, believe that we have no more excuses for ignoring the growing inequality that has left hundreds of millions of people without any hope of surviving preventable and treatable illnesses."
We need to put pressure on the Miles Whites [Abbott CEO] of the world. We need to put pressure on the world. We need to put pressure on ourselves in the world. To not continue to ignore inequality.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Anticipation
I spoke with my site supervisor, a priest, this morning. Hearing his voice made this all more real, though sometimes I still can't believe it. What is this? I guess I should explain my pending hiatus from this blog.
On June 5, I will board Thai Airways for a 17-hour nonstop flight from New York to Bangkok. Through ND's Center for Social Concerns, a friend and I will live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for seven weeks—doing so-called “service learning.” Which basically means we’ll work and learn and discern in the midst of poverty, and hope we can do a little good in the process. My friend and I are in a class of 36 students: we all are soon to depart for places around the world to begin to learn about the real world. The one beyond U.S. borders, the one of the shafted majority, the one of struggle, but also the one of real humanity.
Our particular site placement is with the Maryknoll, the century-old global mission organization. The community of priests, sisters, and lay missioners has built a number of social programs in Phnom Penh. As student short-term volunteers, my friend and I will have the main responsibility of teaching two intermediate English classes at the local public university. So for four weeks, I will teach English to probably 60-70 students my own age. Though a language class, the topic is “Current World Affairs.” Yes, I’m a more than a little intimidated.
But I’ve been fortunate to have so many mentors in my classrooms. My teachers have inspired me and cultivated a love of learning in me. The couple thousand dollars ND donors have paid to send me to Cambodia would probably pay the salary of ten local teachers—who could likely do a better job than I can. Both this realization and a strong desire to share some of the learning excitement I’ve been given will motivate me. I don’t harbor naïve visions of how effective I might be. I’ll just do my best. But if anyone has a neat idea of an activity or something, I’d love to hear it!
Beyond teaching in the morning for four weeks, I’ll get involved somehow with Maryknoll’s HIV/AIDS program. They have adults and children on ARVs (anti-retrovirals). Some 320 children are enrolled in the program: half are orphans and live in Maryknoll-run group homes and the other half live with families. But in a true community health system, workers visit the kids every day to supervise pill ingestion and check on other needs. Maryknoll helps with food, education, and other support. My supervisor spoke just this morning of the need for counsel for the children, and when they’re older, a transition to independence. This life—not death—is the possibility for the 38 million people living with HIV, no longer a death sentence.
This description sounds great from my couch in sunny, pleasant Michigan. But I know an experience doesn’t fit into a 500-word summary on a blog. Any presumption or expectation I might have will probably go flying out the window as soon as we touch down in Phnom Penh. So I’m not expecting movie-like poignancy. My summer will be messy. But I do have one personal hope. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie Crawford remarks, “you can’t know there until you go there.” So I hope beyond all my self-interested hope that I can “go there,” and in going, start to see if I can “stay there.” Can I live in Haiti someday, my dream? I hope so, but I don’t know, so I have to go. To Cambodia, I will simply go.
On June 5, I will board Thai Airways for a 17-hour nonstop flight from New York to Bangkok. Through ND's Center for Social Concerns, a friend and I will live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for seven weeks—doing so-called “service learning.” Which basically means we’ll work and learn and discern in the midst of poverty, and hope we can do a little good in the process. My friend and I are in a class of 36 students: we all are soon to depart for places around the world to begin to learn about the real world. The one beyond U.S. borders, the one of the shafted majority, the one of struggle, but also the one of real humanity.
Our particular site placement is with the Maryknoll, the century-old global mission organization. The community of priests, sisters, and lay missioners has built a number of social programs in Phnom Penh. As student short-term volunteers, my friend and I will have the main responsibility of teaching two intermediate English classes at the local public university. So for four weeks, I will teach English to probably 60-70 students my own age. Though a language class, the topic is “Current World Affairs.” Yes, I’m a more than a little intimidated.
But I’ve been fortunate to have so many mentors in my classrooms. My teachers have inspired me and cultivated a love of learning in me. The couple thousand dollars ND donors have paid to send me to Cambodia would probably pay the salary of ten local teachers—who could likely do a better job than I can. Both this realization and a strong desire to share some of the learning excitement I’ve been given will motivate me. I don’t harbor naïve visions of how effective I might be. I’ll just do my best. But if anyone has a neat idea of an activity or something, I’d love to hear it!
Beyond teaching in the morning for four weeks, I’ll get involved somehow with Maryknoll’s HIV/AIDS program. They have adults and children on ARVs (anti-retrovirals). Some 320 children are enrolled in the program: half are orphans and live in Maryknoll-run group homes and the other half live with families. But in a true community health system, workers visit the kids every day to supervise pill ingestion and check on other needs. Maryknoll helps with food, education, and other support. My supervisor spoke just this morning of the need for counsel for the children, and when they’re older, a transition to independence. This life—not death—is the possibility for the 38 million people living with HIV, no longer a death sentence.
This description sounds great from my couch in sunny, pleasant Michigan. But I know an experience doesn’t fit into a 500-word summary on a blog. Any presumption or expectation I might have will probably go flying out the window as soon as we touch down in Phnom Penh. So I’m not expecting movie-like poignancy. My summer will be messy. But I do have one personal hope. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie Crawford remarks, “you can’t know there until you go there.” So I hope beyond all my self-interested hope that I can “go there,” and in going, start to see if I can “stay there.” Can I live in Haiti someday, my dream? I hope so, but I don’t know, so I have to go. To Cambodia, I will simply go.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Immigration, Doing One's Job, and a Sweet Slam
Since I'm back in SJ now, I have easy access to a TV. Thus, instead of reading all the news I get (which isn't as much as I should get), I watched CNN tonight. Lou Dobb's Situation Room focused on the pending "sweeping immigration reform." Most Republicans are fighting it tooth and nail, afraid of the A-word. No, not that one. Amnesty. So...let's not allow people to contribute to the economy as legal residents. Let's just punish them and deny them more rights (especially the big 'life' right) just because we're a vindictive country. Makes a lot of sense. As if we haven't already shown poor people who's boss.
All correspondents on the show also remarked that very few legislators have likely read last year's immigration bill. That's major legislation. One year later. And they haven't read it? If passing legislation is congressmen's job and knowing the legislation necessarily precludes passing it, then doesn't that mean these people failed to do their job here? No wonder the executive branch is taking over the borders.
In more uplifting news, the religion-politics question remerged following Rev. Jerry Falwell's death. May he rest in peace of course. But CNN did an interesting piece on Archbishop Mahoney of Los Angelos and his outspoken support for immigrants' rights. He directly supports specific political action to grant amnesty and humanity to "illegal" aliens. Coming immediately after Pope Benedict's sharp warning in Brazil against religion getting mingled in with Marxist and capitalist sentiments, I found the Mahoney report very interesting and encouraging. Some in the Church hierarchy do actively work for earthly justice, albeit with a spiritual motive. Always back to Matthew 25: whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me (Christ).
An AP article, which of course I don't trust as Gospel truth (excuse the pun), described the Pope's message as an exhortation to "address spiritual hunger as a means of easing poverty." I think when people are hungry--such as the 850 million suffering from severe hunger right now--they need food. Real food. Spiritual food is great and all. But if working for justice through a political mechanism brings bread to the hungry, or amnesty and life to aliens, then by all means--let's work for justice for all God's children.
All correspondents on the show also remarked that very few legislators have likely read last year's immigration bill. That's major legislation. One year later. And they haven't read it? If passing legislation is congressmen's job and knowing the legislation necessarily precludes passing it, then doesn't that mean these people failed to do their job here? No wonder the executive branch is taking over the borders.
In more uplifting news, the religion-politics question remerged following Rev. Jerry Falwell's death. May he rest in peace of course. But CNN did an interesting piece on Archbishop Mahoney of Los Angelos and his outspoken support for immigrants' rights. He directly supports specific political action to grant amnesty and humanity to "illegal" aliens. Coming immediately after Pope Benedict's sharp warning in Brazil against religion getting mingled in with Marxist and capitalist sentiments, I found the Mahoney report very interesting and encouraging. Some in the Church hierarchy do actively work for earthly justice, albeit with a spiritual motive. Always back to Matthew 25: whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me (Christ).
An AP article, which of course I don't trust as Gospel truth (excuse the pun), described the Pope's message as an exhortation to "address spiritual hunger as a means of easing poverty." I think when people are hungry--such as the 850 million suffering from severe hunger right now--they need food. Real food. Spiritual food is great and all. But if working for justice through a political mechanism brings bread to the hungry, or amnesty and life to aliens, then by all means--let's work for justice for all God's children.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Mothers Day
So I'm a little late on this post, but I'm okay with being untimely.
I simply want to express my appreciation for my mother, for her unconditional love. Such a ubiquitous concept, but a difficult one to grasp--love. Though I just read Pope Benedict's encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" (God is love), so I should intellectually understand the "freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others." My mother has offered experience to my knowledge of love.
My mom supports me in everything I do. She tries to understand my thoughts and ideas, however radical they might seem. She believes in me. But more important than anything, though I didn't earn it and don't always deserve it, she loves me.
For that love, I'm grateful. But my thanks comes with some guilt: every minute, a mother dies in childbirth. AIDS and tuberculosis claim the lives of 10-15,000 parents each day. So for every child with a loving mother, many more children have no mothers--no love, often no hope.
We need to protect the world's mothers.
I simply want to express my appreciation for my mother, for her unconditional love. Such a ubiquitous concept, but a difficult one to grasp--love. Though I just read Pope Benedict's encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" (God is love), so I should intellectually understand the "freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others." My mother has offered experience to my knowledge of love.
My mom supports me in everything I do. She tries to understand my thoughts and ideas, however radical they might seem. She believes in me. But more important than anything, though I didn't earn it and don't always deserve it, she loves me.
For that love, I'm grateful. But my thanks comes with some guilt: every minute, a mother dies in childbirth. AIDS and tuberculosis claim the lives of 10-15,000 parents each day. So for every child with a loving mother, many more children have no mothers--no love, often no hope.
We need to protect the world's mothers.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Haitians die in desperate search of life
Another tragedy at sea for Haitians, and yet another evidence of our negligence. "More than 900 [Haitian] migrants have been caught and sent home." No hearing to determine whether these people are legitimate economic asylum seakers (which they undoubtedly were), which violates international norms. This boat capsized off the coast of the resort island of the Turks and Caicos. Which means some ritzy hotels lost out on roomkeepers...while these people lost their lives.
And a question, with the national discussion on "illegal" immigration: what can ever make a person "illegal"? Who's committing the crime here: the person who seeks their supposedly inalienable right to life though it requires passing artifical human-drawn boundaries? Or the people and countries who deny that right?
Friday, May 4, 2007
A Studying Poem
This Yeats poem was quoted in my organic chemistry textbook from last year (yes, I'm serious). I think it’s appropriate for finals week….and for Kentucky Derby Day! Until a week from now, when I can write more…
The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood
Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt
As though it dragged road-metal. My curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,
On the day's war with every knave and dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round again
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.
“The Fascination of what’s difficult”
William Butler Yeats
The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart. There's something ails our colt
That must, as if it had not holy blood
Nor on Olympus leaped from cloud to cloud,
Shiver under the lash, strain, sweat and jolt
As though it dragged road-metal. My curse on plays
That have to be set up in fifty ways,
On the day's war with every knave and dolt,
Theatre business, management of men.
I swear before the dawn comes round again
I'll find the stable and pull out the bolt.
“The Fascination of what’s difficult”
William Butler Yeats
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Heart?
I don’t have time to write my diatribe against Abbott Laboratories now, but trust me, my blood is absolutely boiling. If you don’t know what’s happening, read the following:
Official Tribune news:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070427abbott,0,3375539.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Student movement & "Die-in":
http://www.soapblox.net/chicago/showDiary.do;jsessionid=DDF17927D8F085C25C3A73A483B1D22E?diaryId=3004
International movement:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG98945.htm
An overview of their overall "corporate social responsibility plan"....not good if even UNICEF and WHO (conservative organizations) are requesting more:
http://www.patientsnotpatents.org/AbbottsFailedPromise.htm
Harvard economist Benjamin Friedman wrote, “The business of business is business. Period. Nothing else.”
Well, this is not business. This is callousness. In my mind, by knowingly allowing people to die when you have DIRECT POWER to prevent death…this is mortal sin.
Official Tribune news:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070427abbott,0,3375539.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Student movement & "Die-in":
http://www.soapblox.net/chicago/showDiary.do;jsessionid=DDF17927D8F085C25C3A73A483B1D22E?diaryId=3004
International movement:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG98945.htm
An overview of their overall "corporate social responsibility plan"....not good if even UNICEF and WHO (conservative organizations) are requesting more:
http://www.patientsnotpatents.org/AbbottsFailedPromise.htm
Harvard economist Benjamin Friedman wrote, “The business of business is business. Period. Nothing else.”
Well, this is not business. This is callousness. In my mind, by knowingly allowing people to die when you have DIRECT POWER to prevent death…this is mortal sin.
The Value of a Liberal Art to a Science Nerd
I’m a biology major. I love science….I relished organic chemistry. In becoming a doctor, I hope to practice biomedical reductionism to cure a person. I know what biomedical reductionism means!
But this semester, I’ve discovered a study that encompasses my non-scientific passions: peace studies. Go ahead. Laugh. Picture me a hippy. But here’s why, in the form of a final journal entry for my Intro to Peace Studies class:
To be completely honest, I took Intro to Peace Studies as a second choice when “Clinical Ethics” closed. Sorry to admit that! But I had my first clue in how much I subconsciously needed the course when I answered the pre-class survey question, “Where do you see yourself in 20 years?” I answered: “doctor in Haiti.” An aspiration, granted, but still true.
I’m interested in the political social economy of pathology—so called “social medicine.” Like many, I’m passionate about social justice. I’ve recently become fascinated by history and political science as I read about Haiti, Cambodia, and other countries’ histories and current situations. But this second-choice peace studies class put it together for me, helping me frame a lot of issues I care about in the context of war and peace.
I didn’t want to study war for the first six weeks of the class! But I found myself fascinated by readings on the nature of new globalized wars and on just war theory. I started to develop a vocabulary for thinking about—confronting in a way—violence. I want to continue this critical analysis. In the type of medicine I hope to practice, I’ll have to deal with issues raised in this course and others in the department.
I hope to treat biological pathology as a physician, but I also want to understand the social pathology that results from physical and structural violence.
So, skeptics (I know you’re there), laugh if you want: “Biology major. Peace Studies minor.”
But this semester, I’ve discovered a study that encompasses my non-scientific passions: peace studies. Go ahead. Laugh. Picture me a hippy. But here’s why, in the form of a final journal entry for my Intro to Peace Studies class:
To be completely honest, I took Intro to Peace Studies as a second choice when “Clinical Ethics” closed. Sorry to admit that! But I had my first clue in how much I subconsciously needed the course when I answered the pre-class survey question, “Where do you see yourself in 20 years?” I answered: “doctor in Haiti.” An aspiration, granted, but still true.
I’m interested in the political social economy of pathology—so called “social medicine.” Like many, I’m passionate about social justice. I’ve recently become fascinated by history and political science as I read about Haiti, Cambodia, and other countries’ histories and current situations. But this second-choice peace studies class put it together for me, helping me frame a lot of issues I care about in the context of war and peace.
I didn’t want to study war for the first six weeks of the class! But I found myself fascinated by readings on the nature of new globalized wars and on just war theory. I started to develop a vocabulary for thinking about—confronting in a way—violence. I want to continue this critical analysis. In the type of medicine I hope to practice, I’ll have to deal with issues raised in this course and others in the department.
I hope to treat biological pathology as a physician, but I also want to understand the social pathology that results from physical and structural violence.
So, skeptics (I know you’re there), laugh if you want: “Biology major. Peace Studies minor.”
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